James Maddison's progress praised by Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers has praised the progress of James Maddison, who made his England debut in the 7-0 thrashing of Montenegro.

Maddison was sent home from the previous England camp with a virus, before subsequently being spotted in a casino while he was recovering from illness.

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England manager Gareth Southgate has kept faith with the former Norwich player, however, and Foxes boss Rodgers was keen to highlight how hard he has worked to develop all aspects of his game.

Rodgers said: "If you look at his numbers this season, in terms of the goals he has scored and created, he has shown he is a big-game player. He has scored goals against Liverpool, against Tottenham, against Arsenal.

"The bit I have been really pleased with is the bit people may look at and think he is not so good as to be a No 8, which is the defensive side.

"That wouldn't be the case now. That is the area I have highlighted since coming here, that if he is to play in that position, he needs to be really good at his pressing, intercepting, blocking.

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"I'm not massively into stats but when you look into the numbers around that side of his game, he is up nearly 50 per cent in how he presses the game, the number of interceptions he gets, and blocks.

"If you rank him against other players in that position, that puts him alongside the likes of Jordan Henderson. You would never say that with the naked eye.

"I know Jordan, he is a fantastic player, and his big strength is that pressing and how aggressive he is in getting the ball back.

"If you tag onto that his creative side, then what you have is a fantastic football player who is learning and progressing.

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"James is among a lot of very good players with England and it's just about preference, whether Gareth [Southgate] and his staff want to pick him, you can see he is at the level.

"If not, he will continue to work. He doesn't expect to play, he's not entitled, but he loves playing and will hopefully get many more caps for his country."

Jose Mourinho has taken over from Mauricio Pochettino as boss of Tottenham and when asked about speculation initially linking him with the job, Rodgers insisted there was no truth in the notion he had been in the running for the job.

"There's nothing to talk on it. This game is full of gossip and speculation," added Rodgers.

"The only thing I would say is I am very happy here at Leicester, I only joined the club in February.

"Everything has been great here since we have been in and there is a project here we want to develop."

Leicester play Brighton at the AMEX in their first game back after the international break and Rodgers is impressed with how Graham Potter has done since taking from Chris Hughton.

"Graham's gone in with a different idea on how to work and in particular at home, they have been very impressive," said Rodgers.

"They look to build the game from behind, have confidence.

"They will be a threat. They can flip systems in the game if they have to. So we know it will be a really good test.

"They know it will be as good test as well!"

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